More July Independence Celebrations Around the World

Did you know that our Secretary of State, John Kerry, sends greeting to countries about to celebrate their independence and his messages are posted on the Department of State website? This year, you can find them (and other messages from Kerry) here:

Secretary Kerry sent messages to Canada, Burundi, Rwanda and Somalia on the very last day of June for their upcoming celebrations, and to the other countries below near or on their holiday:

07/05/14 Venezuela’s Independence Day (from Spain in 1811)
07/06/14 Malawi’s National Day (from the UK in 1964)
07/06/14 Comoros’ National Day (from France in 1975)
07/07/14 Solomon Islands Independence Day (from the UK in 1978)
07/08/14 Argentina’s Independence Day (from Spain in 1816)
07/08/14 Bahamian Independence Day (from the UK in 1973)
07/09/14 The Republic of South Sudan (from Sudan in 2011)

South Sudan is the world’s newest nation:

More July Independence celebrations coming up:

07/11/14 Mongolia (from Chinese rule in 1921)
07/12/14 São Tomé and Principe (from Portugal in 1975)
07/12/14 Kiribati (from the UK in 1979)
07/20/14 Colombia (from Spain in 1810)
07/21/14 Belgian National Day (from the Netherlands in 1831)
07/26/14 Liberia (from the American Colonization Society in 1847)
07/26/14 Maldives (from the UK in 1965)
07/26/14 Vanuatu (from the UK and France in 1980)

It’s interesting that Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia have all been independent longer than Belgium.